This week we commence our Together in Mission campaign. I want in this piece to formally offer you all a profound thanks for your generosity in last year’s campaign. We were one of the first in the diocese to hit our target, and we have received a magnificent rebate of over $35,000 over and above it for us to use in furthering the Mission of Christ in our community and beyond. Thank you, thank you, thank you. One of the projects we might like to consider is to install a 24/7 internet streaming of the life of the Church so that those who are homebound can watch Sunday or daily Mass. Those who cannot participate at funerals or weddings etc. can follow at a distance. Those who cannot attend parish missions or special church events can also tune in to the recordings. Because of your generosity we can do this alongside all the other mission support at home and abroad that we have so rightly given in the name of the Lord. So please commit again to this campaign which is ultimately not about us but about supporting the poorer parishes, missions, schools and projects throughout our enormous Diocese. Many folk have received great blessings through your generosity. Again “Thank you”.
This is also the last weekend I will see you until the 25/26 March. On Thursday I leave wearing my hat as Vicar General of the Josephites for England, Belgium and a four week canonical visitation of the Congo. Please pray for me on this journey, it is my first visit. But more importantly, please pray for my African confreres who struggle daily to do the work of God in very different conditions to ours here. I fear that for me the challenge will be to see the poverty levels that indeed some of my confreres themselves live, 1000Kms inland deep in the interior, in the heart of Africa. After the visitation, I will take a few days holiday to see my family and especially my brother James who is recovering so well from his surgery last year. I then have a General Council meeting and the celebrations for the Launch of the 200 year Jubilee of the Josephites and the Daughters of Mary and Joseph.
Pray for me as I will pray for you. I will offer a Mass for all your intentions in the heart of another continent; such is the Universal Church!
God bless you and your families and the week ahead,
Fr Aidan Peter CJ
May God bless you, your families, and the week ahead,
Fr Aidan Peter